UNIVERSITY    OF    PENNSYLVANIA 

THE    UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM 

ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS 

VOL.  VII  NO.   ! 


THE   CEMETERY  OF   PACHYAMMOS. 

CRETE 

BY 
RICHARD  B.  SEAGER 


PHILADELPHIA 

PUBLISHED    BY   THE    UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM 

1916 


UNIVERSITY    OF    PENNSYLVANIA 
THE   UNIVERSITY  MUSEUM 

ANTHROPOLOGICAL     PUBLICATIONS 
VOL.  VII  No.  1 


THE  CEMETERY  OF  PACHYAMMOS,  CRETE 

BY 
RICHARD  B.   SEAGER 


PHILADELPHIA 

PUBLISHED   BY  THE   UNIVERSITY   MUSEUM 

1916 


ERRATA 

Page  14,  5th  line  from  bottom  of  page: 
PI.  Ill  should  read  PI.  II. 

Page  28,  line  10: 

page  1 8  should  read  page  16. 

Plate  V,  legend  should  read : 

GROUP  OF  JARS  OF  VARIOUS   PERIODS 

Plate  VI,  legend  should  read: 

JAR  OF  TRANSITIONAL  STYLE 

Plate  X,  legend  should  read: 

JAR  OF  TRANSITIONAL  STYLE 

Plate  XII,  legend  should  read: 

OBJECTS  FROM  VARIOUS  GROUPS 

Plate  XVII,  legend  should  read: 

JARS  OF   VARIOUS   PERIODS 

Plate  XX,  legend  should  read: 

VESSELS  OF  VARIOUS   PERIODS 


ABBREVIATIONS 


The  following  abbreviations  have  been  employed  in  the  text. 

A.J.A.  American  Journal  of  Archaeology. 

B.S.A.  Annual  of  the  British  School  at  Athens. 

Gournia  Gournia,  The  American   Exploration  Society,   Philadelphia, 

1909. 

Isopata  The  Prehistoric  Tombs  of  Knossos,  by  A.  J.  Evans. 

Mochlos  Explorations  on  the  Island  of  Mochlos,  American  School  of 

Classical  Studies,  1912,  by  R.  B.  Seager. 

Phylakopi  Phylakopi,  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Hellenic  Studies, 
London,  1904. 

Pseira  Excavations  on  the  Island  of  Pseira,  Crete,  Anthropological 

Publications,  The  Museum,  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
Vol.  Ill,  No.  i. 

Sphoungaras  Excavations  in  Eastern  Crete,  Sphoungaras,  Anthropological 
Publications,  The  Museum,  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
Vol.  Ill,  No.  2. 

Vasiliki  Excavations    at    Vasiliki,     1904    and     1906,    Transactions, 

Department  of  Archaeology,  University  of   Pennsylvania, 
Vol.  I,  Part  III,  1905,  and  Vol.  II,  Part  II,  1907. 

E.M.I.  Early  Minoan    I. 

E.M.I  I.  Early  Minoan   II. 

E.M.III.  Early  Minoan   III. 

M.M.I.  Middle  Minoan   I. 

M.M.I  I.  Middle  Minoan   II. 

M  M.I1I.          Middle  Minoan   111. 

L.M.I.  Late   Minoan   I. 

L.M.I  I.  Late  Minoan   II. 

L.M.I  1 1.  Late   Minoan   III. 


(3) 


THE  CEMETERY  OF  PACHYAMMOS,  CRETE 

In  Eastern  Crete  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of  Mirabello  lies 
the  Isthmus  of  Hierapetra.  The  mountain  chains  of  the  Lasithi 
group  and  the  Triptite  range,  further  to  the  east,  are  sharply 
divided  at  this  point  by  an  almost  level  valley  which  stretches 
from  the  northern  coast  on  the  gulf  of  Mirabello  across  to  the 
plain  of  Hierapetra  facing  the  southern  or  Libyan  sea.  The 
island  is  only  about  seven  miles  wide  at  this  point  and  this 
narrow  valley  must  have  formed  in  all  periods  an  important 
highway  between  the  north  and  south  coasts.  To  a  maritime 
people  this  must  have  been  especially  useful  as  the  voyage  by 
sea  to  and  from  Hierapetra  around  the  eastern  end  of  the  island 
with  its  far-flung  rocky  capes  was,  at  best,  a  hazardous  one  in 
this  land  of  sudden  gales  where  places  of  shelter  for  shipping  are 
so  few  and  far  between. 

The  Isthmus  offered  an  easy  means  of  avoiding  this  circuit 
as  merchandise  could  be  carried  across  from  north  to  south  or 
vice  versa  and  re-shipped  to  its  final  destination. 

The  Hierapetra  plain  is  the  most  fertile  portion  of  Eastern 
Crete  and,  as  it  lies  at  the  point  of  the  island  nearest  to  Egypt, 
must  have  had  a  considerable  amount  of  trade  with  the  latter. 
The  Greek  coinage  of  Hierapetra  and  the  numerous  remains 
still  extant  of  the  Roman  city  show  its  importance  in  the  classical 
period  when  it  ranked  as  the  chief  town  of  this  part  of  the 
island. 

It  seems  clear  from  our  knowledge  of  the  Minoan  civiliza- 
tion that,  in  certain  stages  of  its  development,  it  was  in  close 
touch  with  Egypt.  From  Egyptian  art  it  borrowed  much  and, 

(5) 


6  UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

in  turn,  gave  much.  We  find  both  Cretan  objects  on  Egyptian 
sites  and  vice  versa.  It  is  therefore  not  unlikely  that,  in  Minoan 
times,  this  trade  route  across  the  Isthmus  played  its  part  in  the 
communication  between  the  two  countries  which  would  account 
for  the  numerous  Minoan  settlements  that  are  constantly  coming 
to  light  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of  Mirabello. 

In  1902-1904  Mrs.  Hawes  and  her  expedition  excavated 
the  prosperous  and  well-preserved  town  site  of  Gournia  on  the 
coast  and  another  site,  Vasiliki,  which  lies  a  mile  or  so  inland 
'on  the  Isthmus. 

In  1907  Pseira,  a  settlement  on  a  small  rocky  island  lying 
in  the  gulf  opposite  the  Isthmus,  was  cleared  and  since  then 
evidence  has  accumulated  which  shows  that  villages  of  more  or 
less  importance  existed  in  the  Kavusi  valley,  at  Vraika, 
Monasteraki  and  Pachyammos  with  which  last  this  report 
is  chiefly  concerned. 

These  sites,  Gournia,  Pachyammos,  Vasiliki,  Monasteraki, 
Vraika  and  Kavusi  all  lie  within  a  radius  of  three  miles  on  the 
northern  end  of  the  Isthmus  while  Pseira,  the  island  site,  is  also 
close  at  hand.  The  land  along  this  part  of  the  coast  is  not 
particularly  fertile  and  suffers  greatly  from  winter  storms  which 
drive  the  salt  spray  far  inland  thus  blighting  the  crops.  Today 
only  three  of  these  sites  are  inhabited  villages,  Kavusi,  Vasiliki 
and  Monasteraki.  The  first  two  contain  roughly  800  and  400 
people  respectively.  Monasteraki  can  boast  of  only  a  dozen 
families.  Pachyammos  is  the  modern  port  and  when  I  saw  it 
first  in  1903  it  consisted  of  a  few  warehouses  and  a  couple  of 
roadside  inns  though  it  now  contains  ten  dwelling  houses. 

It  is  clear  therefore  that  the  present  day  population  of  this 
district  is  less  than  in  Minoan  times  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
does  not  seem  to  warrant  a  larger  one.  We  must  infer  that  its 


R.    ff.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  J 

ancient  importance  was  principally  due  to  a  road  crossing  the 
island  at  this  point  more  useful  in  the  days  of  small  sailing  craft 
than  in  our  era  of  steamships. 

There  is  no  real  harbor  at  the  northern  end  of  the  Isthmus. 
The  Tholos  of  Kavusi  and  Gournia  are  both  open  roadsteads. 
The  rocky  point  at  Pachyammos  offers  a  partial  shelter  for  small 
craft  in  all  but  the  worst  storms.  In  Minoan  times,  before  the 
subsidence  of  the  coast  so  noticeable  in  this  part  of  the  island, 
the  shelter  may  have  been  better  as  the  reef  of  rock  stretching 
out  from  the  end  of  the  point  may  have  then  broken  the  force  of 
the  waves  whereas  today  it  is  almost  completely  submerged. 
At  any  rate,  Pachyammos,  poor  harbor  as  it  is,  must  have  been 
the  principal  northern  port  of  the  Isthmus  and  it  has  always 
seemed  odd  that  there  were  such  scanty  traces  of  a  Minoan 
settlement  at  this  point. 

The  shore  at  Gournia,  which  lies  about  twenty  minutes 
walk  to  the  west  of  Pachyammos  over  two  hilly  ridges,  could 
offer  no  shelter  of  any  sort  -for  shipping.  In  Minoan  times 
Gournia  was  the  principal  town  of  the  district  and,  for  lack  of 
anything  better,  seemed  to  have  been  the  starting  point  of  our 
supposed,  trade  route  across  the  Isthmus. 

Owing  to  recent  discoveries  we  can  now  correct  this  error 
and  Pachyammos  assumes  its  natural  position  as  a  place  of 
importance  in  ancient  times  and  the  site  of  a  Minoan  port. 

In  October,  1913,  the  northern  villages  of  the  Isthmus 
suffered  severely  from  one  of  the  torrential  rains  which  some- 
times visit  the  island  of  Crete.  In  such  a  bare  mountainous 
land  these  storms  can  work  a  vast  amount  of  damage  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time.  Owing  to  the  lack  of  vegetation  on  the 
mountain  sides,  there  is  nothing  to  check  the  torrents  of  water 
which,  in  their  struggle  to  reach  the  sea,  tear  great  channels 


8  UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

through  the  terraced  fields  and  the  level  land  along  the  coast. 
A  similar  storm  at  Zakro  in  Crete  is  graphically  described  by 
Mr.  Hogarth  in  his  "Accidents  of  an  Antiquarian's  Life." 

In  the  storm  of  1913  the  hamlet  of  Pachyammos  suffered 
severely.  The  water  rose  to  the  height  of  a  metre  in  the  low- 
lying  houses  and  only  by  tearing  down  a  long  piece  of  wall 
between  the  two  village  inns  were  the  houses  saved  from 
destruction.  The  mass  of  water  thus  released  tore  its  way 
to  the  sea  some  1 50  metres  distant  leaving  a  broad  channel 
twenty  metres  in  width  and  a  metre  in  depth  to  mark  its 
course.  When  the  water  finally  subsided  it  was  seen  that  part 
of  a  Minoan  cemetery  of  jar-burials  had  been  brought  to  light 
in  this  channel.  Some  twelve  jars  were  standing  along  the 
edge  of  the  eastern  bank  formed  by  the  torrent  while  fragments 
of  others  strewing  the  ground  showed  that  a  certain  number  had 
been  broken  up  by  the  rush  of  water. 

As  soon  as  the  weather  permitted,  excavations  were  begun 
which  lasted  from  April  8  to  May  9,  1914.  On  my  return  to 
Crete  work  was  resumed  for  a  fortnight  in  January,  1915,  in 
order  to  make  sure  that  the  limits  of  the  cemetery  had  been 
reached  and  that  no  more  jars  remained  in  the  vicinity. 

This  burial  ground  lies  in  the  broad  sand  beach  which 
gives  Pachyammos  (Deep  Sand)  its  name.  The  space  occupied 
by  the  cemetery  was  roughly  a  parallelogram,  1 50  metres  long 
by  40  metres  wide,  and  lying  some  20  metres  back  from  the  sea. 

The  cemetery  furnished  additional  proof  to  that  already 
gained  at  Pseira  (Pseira,  p.  16)  and  Mochlos  of  the  subsidence 
of  this  part  of  the  Cretan  coast.  Fully  half  the  burial  jars 
were  found  standing  in  sea-water  and  it  seems  hardly  probable 
that  this  was  the  case  at  the  time  of  interment.  Every  one 
knows  the  difficulty  of  digging  a  pit  in  wet  sand  and  it  is  not 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  9 

likely  that  the  Minoans  undertook  the  difficult  task  of  placing 
their  jars  in  holes  which  filled  with  sea-water  when  ten  metres 
further  back  from  the  sea  they  would  have  had  a  dry  sandy  soil 
in  which  to  place  their  dead. 

The  cemetery  seems  to  have  continued  in  use  from  very 
early  times  down  to  the  L.  M.I  period.  The  discovery  of  child 
burials  in  E.  M.  Ill  pots,  a  small  oval  larnax  of  apparently  the 
same  date  and  a  few  stone  vases  of  the  early  type  sufficed  to 
show  that  the  first  burials  were  contemporary  with  those 
discovered  at  Mochlos,  Pseira  and  the  Gournia  cemetery  at 
Sphoungaras.  (Seager,  Mochlos,  and  Hall,  Sphoungaras.) 
Whereas  at  Mochlos  and  Pseira  the  greater  number  of  graves 
dated  from  the  E.  M.  period,  here  the  M.  M.  I,  M.  M.  Ill  and 
early  L.  M.  I  periods  play  the  most  important  part  in  the  history 
of  the  cemetery.  The  Sphoungaras  burials  also  dated  chiefly 
from  these  same  periods  and  there  one  was  struck  by  the  paucity 
of  small  objects  placed  with  the  dead  in  contrast  with  the 
profusion  of  jewelry,  weapons  and  vases  that  accompany  Early 
Minoan  interments.  (Sphoungaras,  p.  66.)  In  point  of  small 
objects  the  Pachyammos  cemetery  was  even  less  productive 
and  the  majority  of  burial  jars  contained  nothing  but  fragmen- 
tary human  remains.  In  a  few  cases  some  clay  cups  and  small 
vases  were  found  in  the  jars,  but  this  was  the  exception  rather 
than  the  rule.  Unlike  Sphoungaras  no  seal-stones  occurred  with 
any  of  the  interments  and  yet,  judging  by  the  quality  of  the 
burial  jars  themselves,  one  would  have  supposed  the  people 
buried  at  Pachyammos  to  have  been  superior  in  point  of  worldly 
wealth  to  those  buried  at  Sphoungaras. 

The  Pachyammos  cemetery  produced  in  all  213  burial 
jars  and  six  larnakes,  whereas  at  Sphoungaras  only  150  jars 
and  one  larnax  were  found,  but  the  latter  site  had  suffered  more 


IO         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

from  the  action  of  time  and  denudation  of  the  soil  than  was  the 
case  at  Pachyammos. 

There  seemed  to  have  been  no  rule  as  to  the  depth  at 
which  the  jars  were  placed.  Some  were  found  within  20  centi- 
metres of  the  surface,  others  at  a  depth  of  2.50  metres  which 
would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  the  question  of  depth 
depended  solely  on  the  energy  or  wishes  of  the  families  of  the 
deceased. 

The  digging  in  the  soft  beach  sand  was  extremely  easy 
until  the  water  level  was  reached.  Below  this  level  work  was 
very  difficult  as  constant  bailing  was  necessary  and  the  falling 
in  of  the  soft  sand  banks  delayed  progress.  In  many  places 
below  the  water  level  the  sand  around  the  jars,  through  some 
,  chemical  action,  had  hardened  into  a  stony  formation  and  it 
required  much  care  and  patience  on  the  part  of  the  workmen 
to  extract  the  jar  from  its  hard  bed  without  breakage.  The 
clay  of  the  jars,  after  so  many  centuries  of  dampness,  was  very 
friable  and  it  is  remarkable  that  any  of  them  hung  together. 
Strangely  enough,  in  most  cases,  painted  designs  were  remark- 
ably well  preserved  in  spite  of  the  wet  and  offered,  in  this  respect, 
a  great  contrast  to  the  dry  hillside  cemeteries  of  Mochlos,  Pseira 
and  Sphoungaras  where  the  painted  surfaces  of  the  jars  and 
vases  were  usually  much  destroyed. 

The  cemetery  of  Pachyammos  came  as  a  complete  surprise 
as  there  are  no  traces  of  an  extensive  town  site  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  soil  of  the  hill  of  Alatzo  Mouri,  which  rises  above 
the  warehouses  of  the  little  port,  is  filled  with  Minoan  potsherds 
but  there  are  no  signs  of  house  walls.  This  hillside  has  been 
much  denuded  and  it  is  possible  that  the  stones  from  the  early 
houses  may  have  been  used  for  modern  field  walls  though  there 
are  not  enough  of  these  to  account  for  the  disappearance  of  the 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE   CEMETERY   OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  I  I 

entire  house  walls  of  a  fairly  large  village.  The  only  other 
possible  site  for  the  town  would  be  in  the  valley  lying  back  from 
the  sea  behind  the  cemetery.  Here  the  soil  is  deep  and  there 
would  naturally  be  few  remains  on  the  surface.  Local  tradition 
points  to  this  spot  and  various  peasants  have  told  me  that  their 
fathers  and  grandfathers  had  turned  up  vases  and  weapons  in 
these  fields  in  former  years. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  features  of  the  cemetery  is  the 
evidence  of  the  utter  disregard  of  the  Minoans  for  the  graves 
of  their  forebears.  It  was  a  common  occurrence  to  find  a 
group  of  burial  jars  broken  and  tumbled  about  in  the  greatest 
confusion  and  upright  in  the  midst  of  the  wreckage  an  unbroken 
jar,  the  placing  of  which  was  responsible  for  the  destruction  of 
the  earlier  interments.  The  Pachyammos  cemetery  did  not 
offer  such  good  evidence  as  that  of  Sphoungaras  for  the  method 
of  placing  the  bodies  in  the  jars.  At  Pachyammos  the  skeletal 
remains  were  of  the  most  fragmentary  nature,  but  what  little 
evidence  could  be  gathered  tended  to  show  that,  as  at  Sphoun- 
garas (Sphoungaras,  p.  61)  the  body  was  placed  in  a  sitting 
posture,  the  knees  trussed  up  under  the  chin  and  the  arms 
doubled  back  against  the  body. 

The  burials  were  primary  burials,  that  is  to  say,  the  body 
had  been  placed  in  the  jar  shortly  after  death.  In  the  case  of 
secondary  interments  the  body  is  first  allowed  to  decay  and 
when  the  flesh  has  quite  disappeared  the  dry  bones  are  collected 
and  given  a  final  burial. 

The  skeletal  remains  at  Sphoungaras  showed  clearly  that 
the  bodies  were  placed  in  the  jars  with  the  head  down- 
ward. The  jar  was  then  placed  in  the  ground  bottom  up 
so  that  the  corpse  occupied  a  sitting  or  rather  a  crouching 
position. 


12         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

Very  few  skulls  could  be  saved  and  from  the  entire  cemetery 
there  are  only  four  examples. 

In  these  cemeteries  one  is  constantly  struck  by  the  small 
size  of  the  jars  used  for  interments  and  in  many  cases  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  how  they  could  have  contained  an  adult 
body  although  we  know  that  the  Minoans  were  a  small  boned 
race  with  a  low  average  stature.  Of  course  many  of  the  smaller 
jars  probably  contained  the  bodies  of  children  but  the  propor- 
tion of  small  jars  is  very  great  and  in  only  one  case  was  a  jar 
found  capable  of  containing  a  body  of  a  really  large  person. 
In  a  few  cases  a  jar  with  a  narrow  neck  had  had  the  rirri  care- 
fully chipped  away  to  allow  more  room  for  the  insertion  of  the 
corpse  but  this  was  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule.  I  think 
it  will  probably  be  found  that,  in  many  cases,  the  hip  bones 
and  the  collar  bones  were  intentionally  broken  in  order  to  insert 
bodies  into  jars  of  the  type  shown  in  PI.  XVI,  No.  XII,  C, 
whereas  with  jars  like  those  of  PI.  II,  No.  II,  a,  this  would  not 
have  been  necessary  as  we  proved  by  experiments  on  our  work- 
men at  Sphoungaras.  (Sphoungaras,  p.  61.) 

Mrs.  Dohan  (Miss  Hall)  suggests  (Sphoungaras,  p.  62) 
that  the  bodies  were  probably  trussed  up  immediately  after 
death  or  perhaps  even  before  death  had  actually  taken  place. 

At  Pachyammos  in  no  instance  were  the  jars  found  bedded 
on  a  layer  of  beach  pebbles  as  was  so  often  the  case  at  Sphoun- 
garas. (Sphoungaras,  p.  59.)  In  many  cases  pithoi  were 
found  neatly  built  around  with  large  stones  to  hold  them  more 
securely  in  position. 

The  jars  often  occurred  in  groups  of  from  three  to  five 
or  more  which  would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  each  group 
might  represent  the  various  members  of  a  single  family.  This 
may  have  been  the  case  in  some  instances  but  often  the  jars  of 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE   CEMETERY   OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  13 

a  group  belonged  to  widely  different  periods  so  that  it  would 
be  unsafe  to  attach  much  importance  to  this  grouping  which 
must  sometimes  have  been  accidental. 

As  far  as  could  be  seen  there  was  nothing  above  the  jars 
in  the  surface  soil  to  mark  their  position  and  if  any  such  mark 
ever  had  existed  it  was  probably  of  wood  or  other  perishable 
material.  It  was  either  owing  to  the  absence  of  any  mark  at 
all  or  to  its  perishable  nature  that  the  later  interments  caused 
such  havoc  among  the  earlier  burials.  As  I  have  said  before, 
the  Minoan  gravedigger  was  no  respecter  of  rights  and  once 
his  pit  was  begun  he  carried  it  down  to  the  desired  depth  irre- 
spective of  the  fact  that  he  had  happened  to  start  his  work 
directly  over  ground  already  occupied  by  earlier  burials.  In 
one  case  an  intrusive  child  burial  had  been  placed  in  a  jar  already 
containing  an  older  interment.  The  bottom  of  the  jar  had 
been  broken  in  and,  without  removing  it  from  the  soil,  the 
child's  corpse  was  shoved  in  at  the  broken  end  which  was  then 
covered  by  a  large  fragment  of  broken  pottery. 

The  small  oval  tubs  or  larnakes  which  had  tightly  fitting 
covers  were  placed  in  the  ground  in  an  upright  position  but 
oddly  enough  the  large  oval  and  square  larnakes,  equally  pos- 
sessed of  covers,  were  put  in  upside  down.  As  at  Sphoungaras 
(Sphoungaras,  p.  60),  it  was  clear  that  the  Minoans  did  not 
always  give  their  best  jars  for  the  burial  of  their  dead  and  if 
the  household  happened  to  possess  a  damaged  specimen  it  was 
considered  quite  good  enough  for  a  coffin.  Thus  one  found 
jars  lacking  parts  of  the  rim,  handles  missing  and  in  several 
cases  the  bottom  half  of  a  previously  broken  pithos  was  used 
to  cover  a  child's  body. 

There  are  some  ten  or  twelve  different  types  of  pithoi 
represented  in  the  cemetery  but  all  of  them  are  commonly  to 


14         UNIVERSITY   MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICA-L    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

be  found  as  store  jars  in  Minoan  house  ruins  with  the  exception 
of  those  noted  at  Sphoungaras  (Sphoungaras,  Fig.  36),  and 
shown  here  in  PI.  II,  No.  II,  a.  This  type,  to  my  knowledge, 
has  not  been  found  on  any  of  the  town  sites  in  this  neighbor- 
hood and  was  probably  intended  solely  for  burial  purposes 
for  which  its  shape  is  peculiarly  suited. 

The  decoration  of  the  painted  jars  varied  according  to 
their  date  but  one  type  of  decoration,  if  it  can  be  so  called,  ran 
through  all  the  periods  represented  in  the  cemetery.  This  is  the 
drip  pattern,  Plates  V  and  XVI,  always  a  great  favorite  in  the 
history  of  Minoan  ceramics.  It  occurred  on  78  of  the  213  pithoi 
found  in  the  cemetery.  They  were  associated  with  burial 
groups  of  all  dates  from  the  Early  Minoan  to  the  Late  Minoan 
periods.  This  style  was  noted  at  Vasiliki  in  Early  Minoan 
context  (Excavations  at  Vasiliki,  1904,  p.  11)  and  has  perhaps 
the  right  to  claim  the  longest  life  of  any  type  of  Minoan 
decorative  design  as  no  other  can  be  traced  through  so  many 
successive  periods. 

It  is  difficult  to  assign  burial  jars  from  a  cemetery  of  this 
sort  to  their  proper  periods.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  say 
whether  an  unpainted  pithos,  neither  containing  nor  associated 
with  any  small  objects,  is  of  Early,  Middle,  or  Late  Minoan  date. 
So  far  no  careful  attempt  has  been  made  to  classify  pithoi 
according  to  their  shape  alone  and  until  this  has  been  done  one 
has  no1  criterion  by  which  to  judge  them.  Of  these  unpainted 
pithoi  the  only  type  which  it  seemed  possible  to  date,  both  at 
Sphoungaras  and  Pachyammos,  is  that  shown  in  PL  III  which 
appears  to  belong  definitely  to  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I 
periods  and  to  represent  the  closing  stage  in  the  history  of 
these  two  cemeteries.  It  is  this  type  that  is  so  often  respon- 
sible for  the  havoc  wrought  among  the  Early  and  Middle 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY   OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  15 

Minoan  burials  and  for  that  reason  was  always  regarded  with 
considerable  disfavor  during  the  excavation  of  the  cemetery. 

The  dating  of  the  painted  jars  is  much  easier  as  in  most 
cases  both  the  paint  and  style  of  decoration  enable  one  to  assign 
them  to  their  proper  place  in  the  chronological  sequence  of 
Minoan  ceramics  with  a  fair  degree  of  certainty.  The  most 
difficult  question  is  to  distinguish  between  the  jars  of  the 
M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I  periods  as  here  the  dividing  line  is  not 
clearly  defined.  I  think  it  would  be  advisable  to  recast  these 
two  periods  using  as  a  line  of  demarcation  between  them  the 
marked  decrease  in  the  use  of  white  paint  as  a  superadded  color 
for  picking  out  the  details  of  a  dark  design  on  a  light  ground. 
The  use  of  the  Late  Minoan  red  paint  is  another  good  means 
of  distinguishing  L.  M.  I  from  M.  M.  Ill  vases  as  this  red 
is  of  a  very  different  quality  from  that  used  in  the  Middle 
Minoan  period. 

I  have  not  attempted  to  give  a  description  of  all  the  pithoi 
found  in  the  cemetery.  The  majority  of  them  are  without  any 
especial  interest  so  that  in  the  following  account  I  have  men- 
tioned only  those  which,  either  by  their  decoration,  shape  or 
context,  deserve  notice. 

As  far  as  possible  I  have  dealt  with  the  jars  according  to 
the  groups  in  which  they  were  found.  In  the  following  cata- 
logue these  groups  are  represented  by  Roman  numerals  and  the 
individual  jars  of  each  group  are  lettered,  i.  e,.  No.  XI,  b,  is  jar  b 
of  group  XI.  For  the  sake  of  convenience  in  cases  where  a 
jar  was  found  alone,  not  associated  with  a  definite  group,  I 
have  given  it  a  Roman  numeral  to  itself. 

I.  The  first  group  of  interest  contained  the  M.  M.  I  jar 
shown  in  PI.  I,  No.  I,  a.  It  was  found  to  overlie  the  small 
E.  M.  Ill  pot,  No.  I,  b,  of  PI.  II,  which  contained  the  well 


l6         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

preserved  skeleton  of  a  small  infant  and  a  cup  of  coarse  clay. 
Near  at  hand,  on  a  level  with  the  M.  M.  I  jar,  lay  the  oval 
larnax  of  PI.  Ill  and  a  small  M.  M.  I  pithos  similar  to  those 
shown  in  PI.  XI.  The  larnax  has  a  very  primitive  look.  It  is 
made  of  coarse  clay  and  bears  traces  of  a  design  which  definitely 
dates  it  as  belonging  to  the  M.M.I  period.  This  design  is  iden- 
tical with  that  shown  on  the  M.M.I  jars  in  PI.  XI  and  is  applied 
in  dark  paint  on  the  light  ground  of  the  clay.  A  larnax  of 
similar  shape  was  found  some  years  ago  at  Stavromenos  near 
Candia  in  a  M.  M.  I  grave  and  thus  far  larnakes  of  this  oval 
type  have  not  been  found  in  either  M.  M.  1 1 1  or  L.  M.  I  deposits. 
The  two  M.  M.  I  jars  of  this  group  are  examples  of  a  style  of 
decoration  characteristic  of  the  period.  (Pseira,  p.  19,  Fig.  4.) 
(Sphoungaras  p.  60,  Fig.  32.)  Near  this  group  stood  the  fine 
M.  M.  Ill  jar  of  Plates  I  and  IV,  No.  I,  d.  It  is  a  good 
example  of  the  final  stages  of  the  light  on  dark  style  and  the 
design  of  shell  spirals  shows  strongly  the  influence  of  the  succeed- 
ing L.  M.  I  period.  (See  L.  M.  I  jar  from  Mochlos,  A.  J.  A., 
Vol.  XIII,  1909,  PL  XI.)  The  marbled  pattern  of  white  paint 
on  the  base  is  occasionally  met  with  in  the  Middle  Minoan 
period  both  in  the  dark  on  light  and  light  on  dark  wares.  This 
pattern  is  evidently  meant  to  imitate  the  breccia  used  for 
stone  vases.  (Pseira,  PI.  VIII.)  The  wreath  on  the  shoulder 
is  very  characteristic  of  the  later  Palace  Style  pottery  of  the 
L.  M.  II  period.  (Isopata,  PL  C,  i.)  There  are  scallops  of 
white  paint  around  the  base,  the  neck  and  the  rim  and  wavy 
white  lines  on  the  upper  part  of  the  latter:  M.  M.  Ill  jars 
of  similar  type  were  found  at  Sphoungaras.  (Sphoungaras, 
p.  62,  Fig.  34,  and  p.  63,  Fig.  35.) 

II.  The  next  group  contained  two  broken  unpainted  pithoi 
of  the  type  shown  in  PL  II,  No.  II,  a,  and  several  small  pithoi 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  I  7 

covered  with  drip  pattern  of  the  type  of  those  shown  in 
PI.  V,  Nos.  i,  3,  5.  Three  of  these  jars  contained  unpainted 
L.  M.  I  cups  of  the  ordinary  handleless  type.  (Gournia, 
PI.  II,  No.  13.) 

III.  The  jar  of  Plates  I  and  VI,  No.  Ill,  was  found  stand- 
ing  by   itself.      The   design   is    a   curious   one   and   probably 
belongs  to  the  border  line  between  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I 
periods  as  it  shares  the  characteristics  of  both  the  light  on  dark 
and  dark  on    light    styles  of   these  two  periods.     The  cross- 
shaped  masses  of  dark  paint  on  the  broad  buff  band  about  the 
middle  of  the  jar  evidently  represent  a  fully  opened  blossom. 
The  centers  of   these   blossoms    are   picked   out   by  circles   of 
white  paint  and  white  lines  and  dots  outline  the  edges  of  the 
petals.     On  the  dark  paint  of  the  shoulder  is  a  narrow  band 
of  white  spirals  passing  just  under  the  handles.     There  may 
have  been   another  similar  band   higher   up   but   the   painted 
surface  of  this   portion   of   the  jar   is   very   badly   preserved. 
There  are  thin  white  lines  around   the  base  which  is  covered 
with  dark  paint. 

IV.  The  next  group  contained  five  jars   all   buried  at  a 
considerable  depth.     Three  of  these  bear  the  drip  pattern,  one 
is  unpainted,  type  of  PI.  II,  No.  II,  a,  and  the  fifth  is  the  jar  of 
PI.  I,  No.  IV,  a,  which  dates  from  early  in  the  L.  M.  I  period. 
The  design  of  marguerites  is  frequently  met  with  in  this  period. 
(Gournia,  PI.  VIII,  No.  21.)      (Sphoungaras,  p.  67,  Fig.  39.) 
Like  the  jar  PI.  I,  No.  Ill  the  blossoms  show  signs  of  having 
been  picked  out  in  white  and  there  was  a  similar  band  of  white 
spirals  on  the  shoulder.     The  body  of  this  jar  is  covered  with 
a  thin  coat  of  marbled  brown  paint.      In  the  surface  soil  over 
this  group  stood  the  small  pithos  of  PI.  XVI,  No.  IV,  b,  which 
is  chiefly  noticeable  for  the  spout  at  the  base,  an  additional  proof 


l8         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

that  many  of  these  jars  were  primarily  intended  for  house- 
hold use. 

V.  A  small  drip  pattern  pithos  contained  two  cups,  one 
of  a  low  open  type  covered  with  mottled  red  paint  and  a  small 
grey  and  white  marble' bowl.  (See  Mochlos,  PL  IX,  No.  Ill,  a.) 
One  can  not  date  this  pithos  with  any  certainty  but  the  stone 
bowl  would  appear  to  belong  to  either  the  E.  M.  Ill  or  M.  M.  I 
periods. 

VI.  This  group  contained  an  amphora  of  coarse  clay  and 
five  pithoi,  only  one  of  which  was  unbroken.  With  the  exception 
of  a  M.  M.  I  jar,  of  the  type  of  PI.  XI,  they  were  all  unpainted. 
With  this  group  were  found  two  cups  of  which  one,  covered 
with  black  paint  with  a  band  of  white  spirals  around  the  rim, 
is  shown  in  PI.  II,  No.  VI,  a.  Similar  cups  are  common  on 
all  the  sites  in  this  neighborhood.  (Gournia,  PL  C,  No.  4.)  This 
type  which  first  appears  late  in  the  M.  M.  Ill  period  runs  on 
into  the  L.  M.  I  age. 

VII.  There  were  three  jars  in  this  group,  two  of  which  were 
covered  with  drip  pattern.     The  third  is  the  large  unpainted 
pot  shown  in  PL  VII,  No.  VII.     One  of  the  drip  pithoi  con- 
tained  a   small    breccia    bowl.      (Type   of    Mochlos,    PL    IX, 
No.  Ill,  a.)     Near  the  other  pithos  and  the  large  pot  lay  two 
steatite  bowls. 

These  stone  vases  may  be  the  remains  of  an  Early  Minoan 
interment.  They  are  probably  earlier  in  date  than  the  jars 
with  which  they  were  found  as  the  large  pot,  judging  by  the 
clay,  would  seem  to  belong  to  the  L.  M.  I  period.  The  two 
drip  pithoi  may  be  older. 

VIII.  Of  the  eight  pithoi  which  formed  this  group  only 
two   are   worthy   of   notice.      One   of    them   contained    three 
unpainted  cups  of  Middle  Minoan  date.     (See  Gournia,  PL  VI, 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  19 

No.  3.)  The  other  jar  is  that  shown  in  PI.  VIII,  No.  VIII.  It 
is  not  easy  to  date  this  jar  exactly  as  it  might  belong  to  either 
the  M.  M.  I  or  M.  M.  Ill  periods.  Dark  designs  edged  with 
white  as  in  this  example  frequently  occur  in  the  M.M.I  period. 
(Pseira,  PI.  VI,  a  and  b.)  On  the  other  hand  the  clay  and 
quality  of  the  paint  are  more  like  those  used  for  M.  M.  Ill 
pottery.  The  design  is  rather  meaningless.  Between  the 
handles  are  groups  of  four  circles  of  dark  paint.  Under  the 
handles  are  three  vertical  curving  bands  or  sprays  also  in 
dark  paint.  These  sprays  and  the  circles  are  picked  out  in 
white  and  there  is  a  badly  preserved  band  of  white  spirals 
around  the  neck.  Around  the  base  are  dark  bands  edged  with 
white. 

IX.  This  group,  which  lay  underneath  a  field  wall,  was 
composed  of  five  much  broken  pithoi  of  various  dates  piled  one 
on  top  of  another  in  the  greatest  confusion.  In  the  midst  of 
the  wreckage  stood  a  sixth  pithos  of  M.  M.  Ill  or  L.  M.  I  date 
of  the  type  of  those  shown  on  the  left  in  PI.  II.  This  later 
interment  was  apparently  responsible  for  the  damage  caused  to 
the  earlier  burial  jars  which  were  broken  up  to  make  room  for 
it.  The  two  earliest  jars  are  of  M.  M.  I  date  of  the  type  of 
those  shown  in  PI.  XI.  One  of  them  contained  two  M.  M.  I 
cups  of  which  one  showed  traces  of  a  white  paint  design  on  a 
dark  ground.  The  third  jar,  a  drip  pithos,  contained  an 
unpainted  cup  of  similar  date.  The  two  best  jars  from  this 
group  are  those  shown  in  Plates  VIII  and  IX,  No.  IX,  a,  and 
Plate  X.  Both  of  them  belong  to  the  end  of  the  M.  M.  Ill  or 
beginning  of  the  L.  M.  I  period. 

The  jar  of  PI.  IX  bears  a  spirited  design  of  dolphins  in 
dark  paint  edged  with  white  on  a  buff  ground.  The  design  of 
PI.  X  is  curious  and  it  is  hard  to  decide  whether  the  artist 


2O        UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

wished  to  represent  an  ankh-like  motive  or  something  taken 
from  nature.  The  design  is  picked  out  with  white  paint  and 
there  is  a  wreath,  also  in  white,  around  the  neck.  Both  these 
jars  are  interesting  examples  of  the  period  of  transition  linking 
the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I  periods.  That  of  PI.  IX  has  a 
decided  artistic  merit  and  may  not  unfairly  be  compared  with 
the  well  known  flying  fish  and  dolphin  frescoes  from  Phylakopi 
(Phylakopi,  PI.  Ill)  and  Knossos.  (B.  S.  A.,  Vol.  VIII,  1901-02, 
p.  58.)  The  latter  is  shown  in  PI.  XV. 

Near  this  group  lay  the  unpainted  jar  of  PL  XII,  No.  IX,  c. 
Jars  of  this  type  often  occur  in  M.  M.  Ill  deposits  and  are 
always  unpainted.  This  example,  which  was  of  very  poor 
clay,  contained  a  much  corroded  child's  bangle  of  bronze.  It 
was  a  perfectly  plain  metal  hoop  of  which  over  half  had  dis- 
appeared owing  to  the  action  of  sea-water. 

X.  The  larnax  of  PL  XII,  No.  X,  a,  was  the  next  object  to 
come  to  light  (length  73  cm.,  width  41  cm.,  depth  42.05  cm.). 
It  is  made  of  very  coarse  red  clay  and  had  been  placed  in  the 
soil  upside  down,  its  cover  lying  underneath  it.  The  weight  of 
the  sand  had  long  since  crushed  in  the  bottom  and  on  clearing 
the  larnax,  no  objects  were  found  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
teeth.  This  larnax  is  probably  later  in  date  than  the  oval  one 
of  PL  III.  We  must  nevertheless  assign  it  to  some  time  in  the 
Middle  Minoan  period  on  the  evidence  of  similar  larnakes 
found  in  a  M.  M.  I  ossuary  at  Vasiliki  in  1904.  (Vasiliki, 
Trans.  Vol.  II.  Pt.  2,  p.  115.) 

Near  this  larnax  in  the  surface  soil  a  drip  pattern  pithos 
was  found  standing  in  an  upright  position  instead  of  being 
placed  upside  down  as  was  the  usual  custom.  A  large  fragment 
of  pottery  had  been  used  as  a  cover  for  the  neck.  This  pithos 
contained  a  small  jug  and  a  cup.  The  jug  bears  a  band  of 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  21 

spirals  in  dark  paint  around  the  shoulder  and  a  ripple  design  on 
the  base.  The  cup  which  has  white  spirals  on  a  dark  ground 
resembles  those  shown  in  PI.  II,  Nos.  VI,  a,  and  XIII,  b.  These 
two  objects,  which  show  both  the  light  on  dark  and  dark  on  light 
techniques  existing  side  by  side,  date  from  the  transitional  stage 
between  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I  periods  and  could  equally 
well  belong  to  either  of  them. 

XI.  Near  by  stood  the  small  jar  of  PI.  VIII,  No.  XI,  a. 
It  is  a  remarkably  well  preserved  example  of  the  M.  M.  Ill 
period.  The  clay  is  very  hard  and  fine  grained  which  may 
account  for  the  excellent  condition  of  the  painted  surface. 
The  decoration  consists  of  two  bands  of  dark  paint  edged  with 
white  around  the  middle  of  the  jar  and  these  bands  are  further 
ornamented  by  a  design  of  running  loops  of  white  paint.  There 
are  also  dark  bands  around  the  rim  and  base  with  superadded 
bands  of  white. 

The  fine  jar  of  PI.  XIII,  No.  XI,  b,  stood  more  or  less  by 
itself  and  seemed  to  belong  to  no  well  defined  group.  This,  also, 
is  very  well  preserved.  The  design  suggests  a  further  develop- 
ment of  the  octopus  motive  shown  on  the  fine  M.  M.  II  pot 
found  by  Mr.  Dawkins  in  the  Kamares  cave.  (B.  S.  A.,  Vol. 
XIX,  p.  22,  and  PI.  X.)  Naturalism  had  made  a  great  advance 
in  the  intervening  period  and  was  gradually  approaching  the 
stage  when  the  L.  M.  I  potters  were  able  to  produce  such  master- 
pieces of  maritime  decoration  as  the  octopus  jar  from  Gournia. 
(Gournia,  PL  H.)  The  period  when  vases  such  as  the  one 
from  Gournia  were  produced  does  not  seem  to  have  been  of 
long  duration  and  by  the  L.  M.  II  period  the  octopus  design  is 
degenerating.  The  octopus  on  the  L.  M.  II  vase  from  Isopata 
(Isopata,  PI.  C)  has  reverted  to  a  type  more  nearly  akin  to 
that  on  the  burial  jar  which  we  are  describing.  By  the  L.  M.  1 1 1 


22         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

period  this  design  has  become  still  more  stylized  and  debased 
until  it  ends  in  two  meaningless  waving  arms  and  the  complete 
disappearance  of  the  body  of  the  octopus.  This  jar,  like  so  many 
from  the  cemetery,  appears  to  belong  to  a  transitional  stage 
between  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I  periods. 

While  jars  such  as  those  shown  in  Plates  IV,  XIV  and  XXI 
were  still  being  made  the  dark  on  light  technique  was  gradually 
becoming  more  and  more  popular.  This  octopus  jar  belongs 
to  this  dark  on  light  class  and,  in  point  of  time,  is  but  slightly, 
if  at  all,  later  than  the  black  and  white  jars  just  mentioned. 
On  the  other  hand,  judging  by  the  paint  and  clay,  it  is  more 
closely  akin  to  the  L.  M.  I  wares  than  it  is  to  the  light  on  dark 
M.  M.  Ill  vases.  It,  therefore,  becomes  a  question  whether  we 
shall  divide  these  periods  on  the  basis  of  technique  or  from  a  chron- 
ological point  of  view.  If  we  go  by  the  former  rule,  vases  like  this 
octopus  jar  and  those  of  Plates  VI,  IX,  X  and  XVIII  might  fall 
into  the  L.  M.  I  period,  although  chronologically  they  are  of  the 
same  date  as  those  which  we  have  assigned  to  the  M.  M.  Ill  age. 

To  my  mind  these  dark  on  light  vases  share  the  char- 
acteristics of  both  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I  periods  to  such  a 
marked  degree  that  I  have  not  been  willing  to  throw  them 
bodily  into  either  period,  but  have  contented  myself  by  regard- 
ing them  as  a  transitional  stage  linking  the  M.  M.  Ill  wares  to 
those  of  the  L.  M.  I  period. 

On  this  part  of  the  site  at  a  very  low  level  the  E.  M.  Ill 
pot  of  PI.  XI,  No.  XI,  c,  came  to  light.  Like  many  of  the  smaller 
pots,  it  stood  upright  in  the  sand.  The  white  design  of  cross- 
hatched  circles  and  lozenges  filling  the  triangular  spaces  between 
the  narrow  lines  of  white  is  very  characteristic  of  the  E.  M.  Ill 
period.  The  upper  half  of  the  pot  is  covered  with  black  paint, 
the  lower  half  is  plain  buff  clay. 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  23 

XII.  The  next  group  comprised  four  jars.  Two  of  them 
were  painted  and  are  shown  in  PI.  XIII,  Nos.  X 1 1 ,  a  and  b,  and 
PI.  XIV.  Both  belong  to  the  M.  M.  Ill  period.  In  No.  XI I,  a, 
the  lower  half  of  the  jar  is  covered  with  black  paint  deeply 
scalloped  along  the  upper  edge.  The  edges  of  the  scallops  are 
picked  out  with  white  dots  and  there  are  two  white  bands  near 
the  base.  Otherwise,  save  for  a  narrow  dark  band  on  the 
shoulder  and  on  the  rim,  the  jar  is  unpainted.  The  design  here 
reproduced  in  the  medium  of  clay  and  paint  greatly  resembles 
that  found  on  many  carved  steatite  vases.  (Pseira,  p.  35, 
Fig.  15,  Nos.  j  and  k.)  Stone  vases  of  this  type  are  very  com- 
mon on  most  Minoan  sites  and  are  evidently  meant  to  repre- 
sent the  blossom  of  a  flower,  possibly  the  common  anemone. 

The  other  pithos,  PI.  XIII,  No.  XII,  b,  and  PI.  XIV,  is 
entirely  covered  with  black  paint  on  which  a  marine  picture  of 
dolphins,  waves  and  the  pebbly  sea  bottom  is  worked  out  in 
white.  The  dolphins  fill  a  broad  zone  around  the  middle  of  the 
jar.  Above  them  is  the  tossing  surface  of  the  sea  with  clouds 
of  spray  blown  about  by  the  wind.  Below  the  dolphins  is  the 
sea  floor  dotted  with  round  pebbles.  There  are  white  wreath- 
like  designs  on  the  neck  and  white  scallops  around  the  rim. 
The  base  is  lacking. 

This  jar  is  particularly  interesting  as  it  shows  the  pre- 
liminary steps  by  which  the  highly  naturalistic  marine  designs 
on  L.  M.  I  pottery  were  attained.  In  that  period  we  have  the 
finished  product.  The  artist  had  learnt  how  much  to  leave  out 
and  how  he  could  adapt  his  subject  to  the  medium  in  which  he 
was  working.  In  this  early  effort  the  painter  attempted  too 
much.  The  result  is  that  we  have  rather  the  effect  of  an 
aquarium  seen  through  the  glass  front,  a  picture  hardly  adapted 
for  vase  painting.  In  spite  of  this  the  jar  has  a  certain  charm, 


24         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

a  naivete,  which  attracts  one  with  the  promise  of  better  things 
to  come. 

The  fish  as  a  decorative  motive  certainly  dates  back  to 
the  M.  M.  I  period,  to  which  epoch  belongs  a  series  of  jugs, 
painted  with  white  fish,  found  at  Vasiliki.  (Vasiliki,  Trans., 
Vol.  II,  Part  2,  PL  XXX.)  In  these  primitive  examples  the 
design  is  treated  in  a  stiff,  lifeless  manner  and  there  is  no  trace 
of  the  naturalism  which  we  find  later  on.  One  is  at  once  struck 
by  the  marked  resemblance  which  the  design  on  this  jar  bears 
to  the  well-known  dolphin  fresco  from  Knossos.  This  fresco 
is  reproduced  in  Plate  XV  owing  to  the  kindness  of  Sir  Arthur 
Evans,  who  has  allowed  me  to  make  use  of  it,  although  he  has 
not  yet  published  it  himself.  From  various  evidence  he  assigns 
it  to  the  M.  M.  Ill  period  to  which  our  burial  jar  belongs.  The 
similarities  are  striking,  particularly  in  the  treatment  of  the 
dolphins,  which  in  both  cases  show  the  same  horizontal  wavy 
lines  running  along  their  sides  and  encircling  the  eyes. 

It  is  clear  that  the  maker  of  the  Pachyammos  jar  was 
familiar  with  the  great  frescoes  which  covered  the  walls  of  the 
Minoan  palaces  in  the  M.  M.  Ill  age,  and  that  he  attempted 
to  reproduce  them  as  nearly  as  possible  on  his  clay  pots.  He 
made  his  mistake  in  not  trying  to  modify  and  adapt  the  fresco 
painter's  designs  to  suit  the  medium  in  which  he  was  working, 
a  thing  which  the  L.  M.  I  potters  succeeded  in  learning  shortly 
afterward. 

The  two  remaining  jars  of  this  group  were  both  drip 
pattern  pithoi,  one  of  which  is  shown  in  PI.  XVI,  No.  XII,  c. 
The  moulded  "spectacle"  pattern  on  the  shoulder  is  unusual. 
It  was  near  this  group  that  the  pithos  was  found  which  contained 
the  intrusive  child  burial  mentioned  on  page  15. 

XIII.  This  group  was  composed  of  two  M.  M.  I  pithoi  and 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  25 

a  pithos  with  drip  pattern.  One  of  the  Middle  Minoan 
pithoi  was  of  the  type  shown  in  PI.  XI.  The  other  jar  is  shown 
in  PI.  XVI I ,  No.  XIII,  a.  The  geometrical  design  in  dark  paint 
on  a  light  ground  is  reminiscent  of  the  light  on  dark  ware  of 
the  preceding  E.  M.  Ill  period.  (Vasiliki,  Trans.,  Vol.  II, 
Part  2,  p.  1 20,  Fig.  3,  a  and  b,  Fig.  5,  c,  and  Fig.  6.)  Other 
M.  M.  I  examples  of  this  style  were  found  at  Vasiliki.  (Vasi- 
liki, Trans.,  Vol.  II,  Part  2,  pp.  126-28,  Figs.  9,  10  and  11.) 
The  design  is  in  dark  paint  on  the  buff  ground  of  the  clay. 

The  drip  pattern  pithos  from  near  this  group  contained  two 
clay  cups,  one  unpainted,  the  other  with  a  band  of  white  spirals 
on  a  dark  ground,  PI.  II,  No.  XIII,  b.  As  I  have  said  before, 
cups  of  this  type  are  characteristic  of  the  end  of  the  M.  M.  Ill 
period  and  lasted  on  into  the  L.  M.  I  age. 

XIV.  There  were  six  jars  in  this  group.  The  best  of  these  is 
the  fine  amphora  shown  in  PI.  XVII,  No.  XIV,  a,  and  PI.  XVIII. 
It  dates  from  the  transition  between  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I 
periods.  The  bold  design  of  bladder-like  objects,  spirals  and 
plant  motives  is  painted  in  brownish  paint  picked  out  in  white 
on  a  light  ground.  The  clay  is  greenish  in  color  and  very 
coarse  in  quality.  It  is  hard  to  say  what  the  design  is  really 
meant  for.  It  may  be  a  water  plant  like  the  lotus,  of  which  we 
see  the  blossoms  on  tall,  waving  stalks,  while  the  bladder-like 
object  is  the  flower  bud  which  has  not  yet  reached  the  open  air. 
Curious  bladder  patterns  are  common  on  L.  M.  I  jars  like  those 
found  at  Pseira  (Pseira,  p.  33,  Fig.  14),  Mochlos  (A.  J.  A., 
2d  series,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  298,  Fig.  19)  and  Gournia.  (Gournia, 
Plates  IX,  No.  28,  a  and  K.)  It  may  be  that  the  designs  on 
these  jars  are  a  conventionalized  form  of  the  decorative  motive 
found  on  our  burial  amphora,  but  if  such  is  the  case  they  have 
lost  all  the  vigor  of  the  original. 


26         UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

The  white  details  which  decorate  the  dark  designs  on  the 
amphora  are  exceedingly  charming  and  recall  the  delicate 
embroidery  which  one  finds  on  the  dress  of  the  Knossian  ladies 
in  the  palace  frescoes  of  this  same  period. 

This  amphora  and  the  jars  of  Plates  IV,  IX,  XIV  and  XXI 
are  the  finest  objects  from  the  entire  cemetery. 

Owing  to  the  shape  and  the  narrow  neck,  this  amphora 
must  have  contained  either  the  body  of  an  infant  or  the  bones 
of  an  adult  from  which  the  flesh  had  been  previously  removed. 

The  remaining  jars  of  this  group  are  less  interesting.  Two 
of  them  were  unpainted  pithoi  of  the  type  of  those  shown  in 
PL  II.  A  third  was  a  small  unpainted  pithos  in  poor  clay, 
much  rotted.  The  handles  of  this  jar  are  oddly  placed  like 
those  on  the  pithos  of  PI.  XI,  No.  I,  c.  The  fifth  jar  of  this 
group  is  shown  in  PI.  XVII,  No.  XIV,  b.  It  is  covered  with 
black  paint  bearing  bands  of  white  on  the  shoulder  and  base. 
On  the  rim  are  incised  two  groups  of  five  chevrons.  This  jar 
appears  to  be  of  M.  M.  Ill  date  and  stood  amid  the  fragments 
of  a  M.  M.  I  pithos  of  the  type  of  those  shown  in  PI.  XI  which 
had  been  broken  up  to  make  room  for  it.  The  sixth  and  last 
jar  from  this  group  is  the  small  drip  pattern  pithos  shown  in 
PI.  XVI,  No.  XIV,  c. 

XV.  This  group  was  a  curious  mixture  of  pithoi  placed  at 
different  depths.  Near  the  surface  stood  an  unpainted  pithos 
with  a  moulded  rope  pattern  on  the  shoulder  containing  an 
unpainted  L.  M.  I  cup.  The  bottom  of  this  jar  was  so  near  the 
surface  that  it  had  been  broken  away  quite  recently  in  building 
a  field  wall.  Near  this  pithos  but  a  little  deeper  stood  a  pithos 
with  drip  pattern  and  close  to  it,  lying  on  its  side,  was  a  large 
unpainted  pot  containing  a  plain  clay  cup  of  L.  M.  I  date.  This 
cup  and  the  one  mentioned  above  are  of  the  type  commonly 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE    CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  2J 

classed  with  the  L.  M.  I  wares,  though  they  might  equally  well 
belong  to  the  previous  period.  They  occur  in  great  numbers 
on  most  Minoan  sites.  (Gournia,  PI.  II,  No.  13.) 

At  a  still  lower  depth  than  the  jars  just  mentioned  stood 
the  pithos  of  PI.  XII,  No.  XV,  a.  It  lay  entirely  below  sea  level 
and  from  the  rim  of  the  jar  to  the  surface  of  the  beach  was  a 
depth  of  2.50  m.  This  jar,  which  is  of  M.  M.  Ill  date,  was 
once  covered  with  black  paint  and  probably  had  some  sort  of 
white  design,  but  of  this  no  traces  remain.  It  was  embedded 
in  a  hard  mass  of  solidifying  sand  as  were  most  of  the  jars  found 
at  this  depth.  Near  this  jar  at  much  the  same  depth  stood  the 
round  bodied  drip  pattern  pithos  shown  in  PI.  XVI,  No.  XV,  b. 
It  contained  two  more  unpainted  L.  M.  I  cups  similar  to  those 
found  in  the  other  jars  of  this  group.  This  pithos  was  embedded 
in  the  fragments  of  several  earlier  jars  which  had  been  broken 
up  to  make  room  for  it. 

XVI.  This  jar,  PI.  XIX,  No.  XVI,  which  also  lay  very  deep, 
bears  traces  of  a  white  design  on  a  dark  ground  and  must  belong 
to  the  M.  M.  Ill  period.     It  is  peculiar  inasmuch  as  the  spout 
is  a  false  one  and  is  not  pierced  through  the  wall  of  the  vase. 
Beside  it  was  found  a  small  tripod  of  coarse  red  clay  such  as 
commonly  occur  in  Minoan  houses.       (Gournia,   PI.   II,  Nos. 
64,  72.)     A  small  M.  M.  I  amphora  with  white  bands  on  a  dark 
ground  also  came  from  this  part  of  the  site.     This  amphora 
and  the  tripod  were  too  small  to  have  served  as  burial  jars  and 
were  evidently  left  there  as  offerings  to  the  dead. 

XVII.  This  group  was  composed  of  three  larnakes  and  a 
pithos.     The  latter  is  similar  to  those  of  M.  M.  I  date  shown  in 
PI.  XI.     The  larnakes  are  shown  in  PI.  XII,  Nos.  XVII,  b  and  c, 
and  PI.  XX,  No.  XVII,  a.     Of  the  three,  No.  XVII,  a,  is  the 
most  interesting.      Its  style  of  decoration,  which  is  identical 


28        UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

with  that  found  on  the  jars  of  PI.  XI,  places  it  in  the  M.  M.  I 
period.  These  small  chests  all  seem  to  have  been  provided  with 
tightly  fitting  covers.  (See  also  No.  XVII,  c.)  Nothing  was 
found  inside  this  chest,  as  the  bones,  probably  those  of  a  child, 
had  quite  disappeared.  It  stood  upright  in  the  sand,  although 
the  large  larnax  of  PL  XII,  No.  XVII,  b,  which  lay  close  beside 
it,  had  been  buried  upside  down.  This  also  had  a  cover  and 
inside  were  found  a  few  fragmentary  remains  of  human  bones. 
(L.  93  cm.,  W.  42  cm.,  H.  30  cm.)  As  I  have  said  before  (page 
1 8),  this  large  oval  type  of  larnax  is  not  likely  to  be  later  in 
date  than  the  M.  M.  I  period. 

The  small  chest  of  PI.  XII,  No.  XVII,  c,  bears  a  drip 
pattern  in  white  instead  of  the  black  paint  that  is  commonly 
used  for  this  design.  The  white  paint  is  of  that  yellowish 
quality  so  characteristic  of  the  E.  M.  Ill  period  and  quite 
different  from  the  white  employed  by  the  Middle  Minoan 
potters.  Thus  it  is  possible  that  the  chest  is  really  of  E.  M. 
Ill  date,  which  would  make  it  somewhat  earlier  than  the 
others  of  this  group.  It  contained  no  objects  with  the  excep- 
tion of  very  fragmentary  skeletal  remains.  Like  No.  XVII,  a, 
,  it  had  been  placed  in  the  ground  in  an  upright  position.  (H.  28 
cm.,  L.  40  cm.,  W.  across  top  24  cm.) 

Larnakes  appear  so  rarely  in  early  deposits  that  it  is  curious 
to  find  three  of  them  together  as  in  this  group.  In  the  Early 
Minoan  and  Middle  Minoan  cemeteries  of  Mochlos  and  Pseira 
no  larnakes  were  found  and  at  Sphoungaras  the  only  one 
which  came  to  light  was  of  the  square  type  of  PI.  XII,  No.  X,  a. 
(Sphoungaras,  p.  34.) 

Near  this  group  a  fourth  chest,  type  of  PI.  XII,  No.  XVII,  c, 
in  coarse  red  clay  came  to  light.  This  example,  the  clay  of 
which  was  badly  rotted,  showed  no  traces  of  a  painted  design. 


R.    B.    SEAGER — THE   CEMETERY    OF    PACHYAMMOS,    CRETE  29 

The  following  jars  belonged  to  no  well  defined  groups. 

XVIII.  This  jar,  PI.  XVII,  No.  XVIII,  is  a  badly  preserved 
example  of  the  transition  between  the  M.  M.  Ill  and  L.  M.  I 
periods.     The  body  is  divided  into  broad  zones  of  dark  paint 
worked  out  in  white,  alternating  with  zones  filled  with  ripple 
pattern  in  dark  paint  on  a  light  ground.     The  dark  zones  on 
the  shoulder  and  middle  of  the  jar  bear  spiral  designs  in  white 
and  on  the  dark  band  around  the  base  are  the  traces  of  a  wreath 
of  white  leaves. 

XIX.  A  small  jar  of  probably  M.  M.  I  or  III  date,  PI.  XX, 
No.  XIX.     It  seems   to  belong  to   the  same  general   class  of 
Middle  Minoan  jars  as  that  shown  in  PI.  VIII,  No.  VIII. 

XX.  This  jar,  PI.  XX,  No.  XX,  is  evidently  a  somewhat 
later  example  of  the  type  of  jar  shown  in  PI.  I,  No.  I,  a.     In 
shape  it  is  more  akin  to  the  M.  M.   Ill  and  L.  M.   I  jars  of 
PI.  XIII,  No.  XI,  b,  and  No.  XII,  a,  and  Plates  VI,  IX  and  X. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  design  is  evidently  derived  from  the 
motive  which  so  frequently  occurs  on  jars  of  the  M.M.I  period. 
(See  Plates  VII  and  XI.)      On  the  whole,  it  seems  reasonable 
to  assign  it  to  some  time  early  in  the  M.  M.  Ill  period. 

XXI.  This  jar  is  shown  in  PI.  XX,  No.  XXI,  a,  and  belongs 
to  much  the  same  date  as  the  one  just  described.     In  fact,  the 
remarks  which  apply  to  No.  XX  apply  equally  well  to  No.  XXI,  a. 

Near  this  jar  lay  a  pithos  of  the  type  of  that  shown  in 
PI.  II,  No.  II,  a,  containing  two  clay  cups,  one  of  which  was 
unpainted.  (Gournia,  PI.  II,  No.  17.)  The  other  cup  is  the 
one  shown  in  PI.  XX,  No.  XXI,  b.  The  design  of  spirals  and 
bands  is  in  white  paint  on  a  black  ground.  The  surface  is  much 
worn.  This  cup  belongs  to  the  M.  M.  Ill  or  L.  M.  I  period. 

XXII.  This  jar  which  is  shown  in  Plate  XXI  is  one  of  the 
most    beautiful   from    the   entire   cemetery.      The   simple   yet 


3O        UNIVERSITY    MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL    PUBLICATIONS,    VOL.    VII 

very  decorative  wreath-like  patterns  in  white  on  the  black 
body  paint  of  the  vase  date  it  without  question  to  the  M.  M.  Ill 
period.  The  treatment  of  the  design  is  more  finished  and 
perhaps  more  conventional  than  is  the  case  with  the  other 
painted  jars  from  this  cemetery.  Nevertheless  it  has  a  quality 
which  makes  one  feel  that  in  the  M.  M.  Ill  period  the  Minoan 
civilization  had  reached  or  was  about  to  reach  the  acme  of  its 
development. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  more  jars  from  the  Pachyammos 
cemetery  but  for  the  most  part  they  are  either  unpainted  or 
covered  with  the  ordinary  drip  pattern.  I  regret  to  say  that 
I  have  been  obliged  to  publish  this  report  without  including 
illustrations  of  all  the  small  cups  and  vases  found  with  the  jars 
and  also  without  giving  the  exact  dimensions  of  the  jars  them- 
selves. The  failure  to  include  these  is  owing  to  the  disturbed 
state  of  affairs  now  existing  in  Greece  which  has  prevented  my 
returning  to  Crete  for  the  present.  As  the  smaller  vases  are 
quite  without  interest  or  artistic  merit,  it  has  really  mattered 
very  little  whether  they  were  illustrated.  In  so  far  as  it  is  pos- 
sible I  have  given  references  to  similar  types  of  cups  and  vases 
which  have  been  found  on  other  sites. 

In  height  the  jars  range  from  40  to  90  centimeters.  One 
jar  was  found  which  was  a  meter  high,  but  this  was  unusual. 
The  greater  number  of  the  painted  jars  are  from  40  to  60  centi- 
meters in  height.  The  meter  rule  which  appears  in  Plates  V, 
VII,  XVI  and  XIX  shows  the  relative  size  of  the  jars  in  these 
groups. 

1  I  have  to  thank  both  Sir  Arthur  Evans  and  Dr.  Duncan 
Mackenzie  for  their  helpful  suggestions,  and  also  Mrs.  Dohan 
(Miss  Edith  Hall),  who  has  been  kind  enough  to  undertake  the 
work  of  proof-reading. 


PLATES 


ANTHR.  PUB.  UNIV.  MUSEUM   VOL.  VII 


PLATE  I 


* 


JARS  OF  VARIOUS  PERIODS 


ANTHR.   PUB.   UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.   VII 


PLATE 


VESSELS  OF  VARIOUS  PERIODS 


I- 


ANTHR.   PUB.   UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.  VII 


PLATE   IV 


JAR,  M.  M.  Ill  PERIOD 


ANTHR.   PUB.   UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.   VII 


PLATE  VI 


JARS  OF  TRANSITIONAL  STYLE.   M.  M.  III-L.  M.  I   PERIODS 


ANTHR.  PUB.  UNIV.  MUSEUM  VOL.  VII 


PLATE  VIII 


JARS  OF  TRANSITIONAL  STYLE.  M    M.   III-L.   M.  I   PERIODS 


ANTHR.  PUB.  UNIV.  MUSEUM  VOL.  VI I 


PLATE  IX 


VASE    OF   TRANSITIONAL  STYLE 
M.  M  III  -  L  M.I  PERIODS 


ANTHR    PUB.  UNIV.  MUSEUM  VOL.  VII 


PLATE  X 


JARS  OF  TRANSITIONAL  STYLE.  M    M.    III-L.   M.  I   PERIODS 


ANTHR    PUB.   UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.   VII 


PLATE  XI 


JARS  OF  E.   M.  Ill   PERIOD  AND  M.   M.  I   PERIOD 


ANTHR.   PUB.  UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.   VII 


PLATE  XIII 


• 


JARS  OF  MIDDLE  MINOAN   PERIOD 


ANTHR.   PUB.  UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.  VII 


PLATE  XIV 


JAR.  M.  M.  Ill   PERIOD 


ANTHR    PUB.   UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.  VII 


PLATE  XVII 


JARS  OF  TRANSITIONAL  STYLE.  M.  M.  III-L.  M.  I   PERIODS 


ANTHR.  PUB.  UNIV.  MUSEUM  VOL.  VII 


PLATE  XVIII 


VASE    OF   TRANSITIONAL  STYLE 
M.  M.  Ill  -   L.M.I  PERIODS 


r 


ANTHR    PUB.  UNIV.  MUSEUM   VOL.  VII 


PLATE  XX 


- 


VESSELS.  M.  M.  Ill  PERIOD 


ANTHR    PUB.   UNIV.   MUSEUM   VOL.   VII 


PLATE  XXI 


JAR.  M.  M.  Ill   PERIOD 


r\f 


GETTY  CENTER  LIBRARY 


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